According to the expert, attacks like the one at the weekend can significantly change the political mood.Image: keystone
July 28, 2026, 05:16July 28, 2026, 05:16
According to political scientist Thorsten Faas, the suspected Islamist terrorist attack on the sidelines of Christopher Street Day (CSD) in Berlin will have a noticeable impact on the election campaign. “We are already seeing that the focus of the media and therefore also of the public is shifting,” he told the German Press Agency. “Issues of internal security and integration are the focus, other things are pushed into the background.”
At the same time, the aim of the attack must be taken into account: “The CSD is also a political event,” said Faas, who has a professorship for political science at the Free University (FU) in Berlin. This brings this aspect more into focus. “That could lead to even more polarization overall.” In Saxony-Anhalt the elections will take place on September 6th, in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and Berlin 14 days later.
According to experts, attacks like the one at the weekend can significantly change the political mood or even be decisive for the election. “The shift in public attention alone is relevant.”
Will the attack be remembered until the elections?
“Because different parties are positively or negatively linked to different topics,” said Faas. “Such attacks tend to play into the hands of right-wing parties. But because of the target of the attack – the CSD – such an event can also mobilize left-of-center people.”
However, there are still almost two months until the election date in Berlin and Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania: “The issue will not dominate the public for eight weeks, too much is happening for that,” said the political scientist from the Otto Suhr Institute at the FU.
“However, it is dangerous for government parties – when the impression arises that mistakes have been made and the competence of governments is in question. Something like that can cause lasting damage, even if the event itself fades into the background.”
In the attack on Saturday evening, a 21-year-old German with Lebanese roots and connections to Islamist terror is said to have hit numerous people with a van. A woman from Poland was fatally injured and another 29 people were injured, some of them critically. Abdul B. was shot by emergency services when he was arrested on Sunday evening. (sda/dpa)